Surgery May Restore 4-year-old`s Hearing

June 7, 1985|By David Gibson, Staff Writer

BOYNTON BEACH — For six of the next 11 days, Tia Clemmons will get a chance to experience the gentle sway of a passenger train as it rolls along the tracks. She will miss, however, the sound of the lonesome whistle.

Tia, 4, and her mother Loretta Clemmons, will be traveling to Indianapolis where Tia will be the subject of three days of testing to determine if she is medically eligible for surgery that could restore her hearing.

A bout with spinal meningitis when she was 18 months old left Tia with a profound hearing loss. She has only 5 percent of the hearing in her right ear and 15 percent in her left ear.

``Tia`s a very bright little girl,`` her mother said. Tia is enrolled in a special preschool class at Spady Elementary School where she is learning sign language. She can read lips and has learned to write her name and the alphabet, Clemmons said.

``We`re lucky that the only thing she lost was her hearing because she was very sick. We`re pretty excited now,`` Clemmons said. ``It`s been three years and so far nothing has changed. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for her to regain her hearing.``

It was the chance of a lifetime that led to the opportunity for the surgery for Tia. Her grandfather, who lives in Atlanta and travels in his work, struck up a casual conversation with another traveler in an airport about three months ago.

It turned out that the traveler was Dr. Richard T. Miyamoto, a surgeon at Riley`s Children`s Hospital at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis.

After hearing of Tia`s situation, the doctor suggested that he be sent copies of her medical records to determine if she could be helped by an ear transplant operation performed at the hospital.

A check of the records indicated she is a suitable candidate for the operation and she is now scheduled for a battery of tests at the hospital Wednesday through Friday.

The operation is designed to help people, such as Tia, with profound hearing losses, said her grandmother Lillian Artis. The operation includes the placement of a magnetized disk under the skin behind the ear.

A second disk, connected to a powerful microphone and amplification device worn on the body, is attached outside the skin behind the ear.

The outside disk is supposed to transfer vibrations to the inside disk and bypass the dead auditory nerves in the patient`s ear, Artis said.

``It used for people with very little hearing and is still classified as experimental for children her age,`` Clemmons said of the procedure. ``The doctor said he has performed it on about seven kids.``

To which Artis quickly adds, ``And they were all successful.``

The family is brimming with optimism now about the prospects for the operation but they also are bracing themselves for the expenses that will accompany it.

The have been told that if the operation is performed, it will cost from $10,00 to $12,000. Following the surgery, Clemmons and Tia will have to stay in Indianapolis for six months of theraphy and rehabilitation for Tia.

The family`s insurance policy will not cover the cost of the procedure. Even though it requires surgery, the insurance company considers it the purchase of a hearing aid and that is not covered in the policy.

Because of that, the family, along with Rodney Dorsett, administrator of Doctors Hospital in Lake Worth where Clemmons works, are looking for financial assistance from civic and other organizations.